Who owns a hydrophone?

At this point, the only mic I’m really thinking about adding to my field kit any time soon is a hydrophone. There are a couple of models out there, so I’d really like to get peoples’ opinions if they have experience with one.

If you own one, what brand and model? What do you feel its strengths and weaknesses are?

18 Answers

We also have have a pair of the d-series Jez Riley French hydrophones, which are amazing value for the money. If you are brave enough try using them with portable heating elements in liquids of different viscosities. We have the impedance matching transformers that JRF supplies and plug them into a pair of Sound Devices MP-1s, which gives us plenty of headroom. It is also really fun to agitate liquids with the hydrophone in it, with a variety of objects, as well as drop or fire (using a a catapult) things into the fluid. I do not find them particularly high quality or accurate, but at £60 each, I would be extremely surprised if they were. What they are is a safe bet for the price, it means that you can extend the options of sound sources that you can work with. The one I would really like is the Ambient ASF-1 Mark II, but that is almost £1200, and I would never use it in the same way as the £60 JRFs.

I heard some really interesting recordings where a hydrophone had been inserted into dung to record dung beetles. Another person inserted one into their mouth to record chewing, which was then used in a well known sci-fi movie.

I have the Aquarian H2a and one of JrF’s. I haven’t gotten a lot of use out of the JrF because the cable is so short. I have a 50′ lead on my Aquarian, and it has been quite useful. There are some weird things you have to get used to with it, like grounding issues (especially if you have 2 of them connected at once), frequency response things (water conditions and depth change everything…), etc…

I’ve used the high end Ambient and the DPA. Both are amazing – much nicer than my Aquarian. I’m very tempted to get one. I know Tim Neilson LOVES his DPA (Shaun, maybe he’ll let you borrow it to play with?). Tom Todia just got the new Ambient (quite a feat – there are only 3 in the US right now), so he should be reporting back on that one soon. If it’s much better than my Aquarian, I’ll be upgrading soon.

I’ve been working on an underwater library for a couple of years now. Should be done relatively soon. Anyone that wants to play with it, shoot me an email. All was recorded with the Aquarian H2a.

Also, love using my H2a as a contact mic. They have this nifty attachment for the mic that turns it into a nice flat contact (the mic itself is normally rounded). Works fantastically. Made lots of very useful recordings with that!

By far the best underwater recordings I have heard are from the library the guys at Tonsturm released some time ago which they recorded with the guys from Sonar Surround (now part of Ambient). The hydrophones they used were the TC4042’s ( http://www.teledyne-reson.com/product/tc4042/ ) with DS 20 Directivity Sphere Balls and are made by a company called Teledyne Reson which I think are the same ones distributed by Ambient. Here is a sample video of that library:

H2a here as well. I love this little mic, it packs a punch for the value. A few things to look out for:

• the cable is HIGHLY microphonic – you have to be extremely careful not to bump or handle it while recording.

• even with the rubber foot it is hard to mount as a contact mic (hello duct tape)

• when used as a contact mic I find the high freq response leaves much to be desired. (Admittedly, I have not used any other contact mics so I don’t know if this is maybe just the nature of the beast?) But when used as a proper hydrophone, there is plenty of top end.

I have the Aquarian H2a. Haven’t used it much, it seems well built. It has the same issues most hydrophones have; lack of low end content. I guess it doesn’t sound as cool underwater as Hollywood has led us to believe.

I have the Ambient ASF-1. I haven’t recorded much with it just yet, but enough to know what good sources are. I have some big plans for it this summer.

Generally, with hydrophones, I find that the louder the source is, then the more clarity I’ll get from it. Something that has a lot of low or mid range through the air often doesn’t contain that same content through the water with a hydrophone. It depends on the energy/loudness of the source, though. Sometimes I’m amazed by the clarity I get with a hydrophone, and other times I’m amazed at how little high frequency content it captures. It’s technical specification for frequency range is incredible. With the right sources, it’s captures great sound design material.

Rambling on a bit. I love the mic. It’s well built, great frequency response, and is made with common pro gear in mind. I’d recommend it.